They've been around for years and when Neil Young wrote "Southern Man" they jumped in his face with "Sweet Home Alabam" in which they called him out my name, "Well I hope Neil Young will remember, Southern Man don't need him around."
Supposedly the name comes from a teacher they had in high school who's name was "Leonard Skinner." I'm not sure about that part.
The song rebutting Young did not endorse red-neck values. They even disowned Wallace-supposedly-and just sang the song because they didn't want some Canadian putting down the South.